http://www.anythingbutipod.com/archi.../zenstyles.jpg
I know Creative has been pretty slow in chunking out new players in recent years and even the zen xfi 2 is no where near where the ipod touch is. But honestly, all i want is a dedicated player with a decent audio quality. I can never imagine using my handphone as a music player as that would really drain the battery. As my zen is approaching its 3rd year of service, i am thinking of getting the new zen xfi style. However, i am not able to find any reviews on it yet. Anyone of you have tried the actual product or maybe tell me if this player is a worthy upgrade of a the old black zen?

glove4

04-30-2010 09:21 PM

I have the X-Fi style model coming soon, I will gladly tell you how it is as soon as I can if you're still interested to know. I have had a Zen, a Zen X-Fi and still have a V Plus, so I have experience with their players.

matha_stewart

05-02-2010 09:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by glove4
(Post 467406)

I have the X-Fi style model coming soon, I will gladly tell you how it is as soon as I can if you're still interested to know. I have had a Zen, a Zen X-Fi and still have a V Plus, so I have experience with their players.

Yes please! That would be great, maybe you could do a short review or something? That would really help me make up my mind if i should get this player!

glove4

05-10-2010 11:18 AM

Sorry for the lag in responding. The X-Fi Style is exactly what I expected it would be. It has the benefits of Creative's X-Fi enhancements (which are good, bad, or easily ignored depending on the user) as well as support for FLAC with the tactile controls of the original Zen. So it is an excellent option in that regard, definitely a better option than the original Zen. Now it doesn't have any memory expansion, hence the fact that I checked out the 32gb. 16 would have been plenty for me as I only use it for music, but 32 gives more space than is necessary for my purposes. If you need memory expansion, you probably will want to stick with the X-Fi2, which is the high-end version with the touchscreen, etc. But this player is very nice. The pictures on the internet will lead you to believe that the X-Fi style is the same size as the X-Fi2 touchscreen, but it is not. Overall, the size of this player is very close to the Sansa Fuze. It has a few nice and colorful backgrounds to choose from, different from the Zen options, with that nice pixelated look you see in the pictures. Otherwise you can just put your own image on there as the background which is what I do. Overall, if you can afford the 32gb for $180, its worth getting it over the original Zen or the original Zen X-Fi, but if you are looking for memory expansion with all of the same features and more, you will want to look at the X-Fi2, which is the bigger "brother" I presume.

I should also note that the UI seemed a bit sluggish on this, which I assume will be fixed in a firmware update eventually. Definitely a noticeable annoyance sometimes, but easily fixed (much like they did with the X-Fi2 after its release), so its not something that should immediately deter you. I imagine the lack of expandable memory will be the issue that deters people over anything else--that is the one reason why you may want to look elsewhere if its necessary. I would say its a great player all around, a nice update to the original Zen. Oh, and video looked perfectly fine on this player, I didn't have any problem with that, I don't use it for video, so I can't comment too much on that.

campioni06

06-06-2010 10:36 AM

Hey, quick question re the Style 100 16gb, is it volume restricted, and if so does a frimware update to another region over-ride it?
Thanks for any help.

glove4

06-06-2010 02:47 PM

You may want to try asking this question on the actual Creative forum. There aren't too many people on this forum who intend to buy one of these new Zen players. Creative has become reviled by many on these forums. You will likely find more help on the Creative site. Go here: http://forums.creative.com/t5/MP3-Players/bd-p/dap

campioni06

06-07-2010 01:46 PM

Are they that bad? Thanks for the heads-up I've posted on the Creative forum. Any advice on a 16gb for about £70 (UK pounds) that doesn't have volume restriction or can by-pass the restriction? Was going to get a Sansa 8gb with an 8gb card but dont really want to mess around with cards. Tried a Sony but no way round the volume restriction.

rtil

06-17-2010 03:18 PM

the ZEN X-Fi Style is cheaper because it has a cheaper display. 216k color vs the ZEN's 16 million color display. considering that, the device is probably less quality in general.

Creative seems to have really lost their edge in recent years. they don't seem to care about their products at all.

their support team is all outsourced with copy-paste responses, and their devices are generic re-hashes of older, superior products - complete with missing features and clunky UI.